Alongside our usual highlights of the week we're asking supporters to let us know how parties are campaigning in their local area

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Dear Friend,

With a general election likely this year Full Fact are beginning to play closer attention to claims made by political parties as they mount their campaigns in constituencies across the country.

In previous elections we’ve consistently seen political parties using misleading formats for their campaign materials—like pretending to be local newspapers—to gain votes.

Have you seen or received any campaign materials that you are not sure about?

You can reply to this email with a photo or a scan of anything you’ve seen.

Deceptive campaign practices risk misleading voters and undermining trust in the important institutions that protect our democracy—the local press, and the electoral system itself. Let’s put a stop to them together.
Best wishes,

Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
FACT CHECKS


** Labour claim of 4,000 drop in GP numbers is not reliable ([link removed])
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A Labour briefing document—reportedly the party’s election “campaigning bible”—lists several examples of what it calls “Tory failure”, including the claim that there have been “4,000 GPs cut”.

This doesn’t seem to be correct. It is not true for the period since 2015, when there were about 2,000 more GPs in England. There seems to be no reliable way to make the comparison earlier than that.

Full Fact have approached Labour to ask how they reached the 4,000 figure, but we have yet to receive a reply.


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** Bim Afolami overstates NHS in England as a share of ‘everything the government spends’ ([link removed])
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Labour weren’t the only party confusing their numbers on the NHS this week. Treasury minister Bim Afolami claimed that the NHS accounts for about 42-43% of total government spending.

Mr Afolami’s figure seems to refer to the proportion of budgeted day-to-day spending, as set out in Departmental Expenditure Limits, also known as Resource DEL—but this only accounts for just over a third of public spending as a whole.

Taken together with capital spending, and Annually Managed Expenditure (which is not set by government budgets but by demand), health spending amounts to about 14-15% of everything the government spends.


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** Have there been 25 tax rises since the last election? ([link removed])
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In recent weeks, Labour politicians have repeatedly claimed that there have been 25 tax increases since the Conservatives were re-elected in 2019.

It’s unclear how Labour arrived at this exact figure. The Institute for Fiscal Studies told us: “If you simply add up the number of tax reforms announced since 2019 with a positive revenue yield, there are literally hundreds. On the same basis, there have also been hundreds of tax cuts.”


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EVENTS


** AI and Democracy ([link removed])
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Threats and opportunities

In an era of emerging technology, learning about Artificial Intelligence is more important than ever.

Its potential seems almost limitless, and so does the danger it poses to our democracy. Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and we must educate ourselves to stay informed citizens.

Learning from trusted experts in the field is essential to the conversation on AI within our democracy.

That's why we have asked two experts to join us at our next webinar, and help us all learn more about this inevitable technological shift.

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Date: Tuesday 6th February
Time: 12pm to 1pm

Speakers:

Azzurra Moores,
Policy and Parliamentary Relations Manager at Full Fact, will bring unique insight about the role political parties can play in responsible and transparent AI use.

Hannah O’Rourke, co-founder of Campaign Lab, is an expert on Artificial intelligence influence on campaigning and can provide an inside perspective on this change to politics.

Kyle Taylor, author of The Little Black Book of Artificial Intelligence, will provide expert foresight into the consequences of such technology on our society and democracy as a whole.

Register ([link removed])
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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* New Piccadilly mosque will not ban alcohol and music from London’s theatre district ([link removed])
* Not all migrants must wait five years for benefits under France’s new immigration law ([link removed])
* MailOnline corrects ‘fiscal headroom’ headline ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
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Stop the spread of bad information

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All the best,
Team Full Fact

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